The shit that GBS pulled while he was here? He was a magician on the field. Darlington was a calming presence who kept the ball moving, GBS made shit happen out of nothing. If GBS had played in MLS for the whole length of career that Nagbe had, you would not be giving the answer you are. At all. Also, GBS CAME here at 34. Nagbe is retiring at 35. Compare and contrast Nagbe's 2024 and 2025 vs GBS' 2007 and 2008. And in 2009 he stepped up and played as more of a striker. He still played here in 2010, too. Look, I love Nagbe. He has been a rock at his position. But to compare the two is flipping ridiculous. Nagbe has been MLS his entire career. For example: GBS played from 91 to 2011. 526 games with 145 goals and I don't know how many assists. Nagbe played in MLS from 2011 to 2025. 463 games with 45 goals and I guarantee, a lot less assists. Most of GBS' career was spent at Boca Juniors, playing in Argentina, against what would probably be considered better competition than what we have in MLS. Currently they are tied, but you know that back then, Argentina's competition would have SMOKED MLS. So kindly take your frankly laughable argument back home and have some drinks with it.
This ownership group absolutely has shown they are more willing to spend money than either of the previous two, or have you forgotten the transfer fees they plunked down for Cucho or Ali? Cmon, de-rectallize your cranium. Nancy is holding us back on player acquisitions, and Tall is not fit for his job.
I'm not going to compare numbers, because they were two completely different players with different roles. But Guillermo Barros Schelotto was on the team and won MLS MVP and MLS Cup MVP in the year where we won our first league title and the double. That's probably the single biggest checkmark either player has. Schelotto won another Shield in 2009. Nagbe won two MLS Cups with us, but wasn't even on the field for one of them (damn you, COVID). And he was the metronome of what were probably the two best seasons we ever had in terms of style of play and domination. And neither one of them are Chad Marshall.
Tall is not fit for his job, Gazdag was a absolute desperation move. I hope it works this year but that was just worst then most of us thought. If Nancy is gone you will be wishing he wasn’t. It will get much worse without him.
There's 30 teams. The fact that we've won 2 championships in this decade already beats the odds. But I fear you are right.
Nagbe needs to be talked about as a MLS GOAT, not just Crew GOAT. His longevity and resume are second to none.
Re: Tall and the person he replaced. It seems to me that Bez is the common denominator for most of our major acquisitions. And in terms of what we paid for Abou Ali, the consensus seems to be that we overplayed for him, pretty dramatically. What I’ve seen of him, I like. But he’s not the game changing player Cucho was, despite his fee (note that his salary isn’t particularly high). Anyway, I’m rambling, but I think you’re giving Jimmy too much credit. He opened up his checkbook, but I think that was based more on Bez’s reputation and, frankly, his requirements in order to work for Jimmy, more so than who the manager was/is. Yeah, Nancy is demanding, but so too was Bez. Together they made a helluva team in a yin/yang kinda way.
And let's just be honest here, losing Nancy could be a big blow, but if Jimmy decides to get rid of Issa because Nancy is gone, Jimmy picking 'his guy' to run the team could be apocalyptically disastrous. I like that he doesn't know shit about soccer, because that means he has to lean on soccer people to make decisions. If there are none around though, who knows what joker he'll pick to run the team. This is where I hope Dr. Pete has some sway, I don't know how locked in he is to these sorts of things, but it's gotta be more than anyone from the Haslams.
I would add our staff and admin hiring as well. He hired Nancy, Courtois, McGuiness, Wray, the whole assemblage. I think Jamie McMillan is still there (and Tall of course) but everyone else is gone. If youre looking for a talent/ brain drain, start there. None of those people have truly been adequately replaced.
That’s a pretty big ”if” in terms of Tall’s future. Why would Jimmy sack Tall? From his perspective, I mean.
The Grauniad - not exactly my fave source- Say's that Celtic told the Crew on Friday that theyre trying to sign Nancy. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/14/celtic-wilfried-nancy-columbus-crew-manager A fan site Ive obviously never heard of says Celtic will pay upwards of £2 million to.the Crew for Nancy's contract. https://celtsarehere.com/celtic-fc-wilfried-nancy-latest/ And this source - no idea - says that he wants to take Rossi with him. https://www.footballinsider247.com/...ite-fans-after-what-former-arsenal-star-said/ And everyone agrees that Celtic want him there before next weekend.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but a) he's currently the top scorer on a team that can't score to save its life, and b) I have zero confidence that the guy who is in charge of finding and signing an adequate replacement for him is up to the task. The bottom line for me is that without Nagbe, Rossi, probably (hopefully) Gazdag, possibly Arfsten, potentially Moreira, Farsi, who knows who else, PLUS Nancy, what does this team have left? And does anyone think Issa Tall can rebuild a team from the studs out?
I may be a little reactionary but the future right now does not look bright. This going to be a full rebuild with nobody left to spread the previous winning culture.
Well, the flip side to that question is, if Issa is handcuffed by Nancy's high standards of approval, would him leaving free up Issa to make signings Nancy wouldn't approve of? I think the answer is obviously yes, but that could be good, bad, or indifferent. Hard to say.
That's... really stupid. If Nancy leaves, we're going to have a new coach who will probably play a different style. That seems pretty obvious, considering that Nancy is basically singular in MLS. So if Nancy is "misusing" Rossi, why would you automatically assume that the next coach, in a different system, would also "misuse" him?
Unless we have a Carlos Vela on the other side to unlock Rossi, we'll never get the MLS golden boot version of Rossi. If we're gonna rebuild/retool (which we will with a new coach) then he will probably get us a decent fee from Celtic. Move on Farsi as well (we have Herrera) and that will give whoever is running this team freedom to make moves as they see fit. Rossi isn't a Batman, he's a Robin.
Yes, but he’s a really really good Robin. The type of Robin who can win you multiple trophies with the right Batman. Scottie Pippen basically. Those guys don’t grow on trees, and I’d prefer to have him around as a rock solid piece of the puzzle for the new guy going forward.
The future has been bleak since they punted on adding anyone of significance last winter. It's just gotten progressively more depressing since then.
Rossi is untouchable. Beyond the value he adds on the field, he's the most recognizable and marketable player we have left. Casuals need some year-to-year familiarity in the team's star power. Rossi's skill set is also a necessity to get Wessam scoring with enough regularity for those casuals to buy him as a new face of the franchise. If you want to move on from Diego after the sprint schedule in early 2027, I could be persuaded if there's a plan in place to maximize the DP spot it would open. There's no scenario in which he should be moved in 2026.
Assuming he’d even want to move. Arfsten’s the guy for whom such an opportunity aligns with his goals as well as his ascendancy as a player and role with the national team.
Another piece re: Rossi speculation https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport...n=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target
An absolute banger from Philly to the Crew? How could this be a miss?!? Nightwing can sure as hell bring home championships. He's like Batman, but with better results.